


A Piece of Me (I Wish I Didn't Need)

by deliriouslyshipping



Series: T'Cherik Drabbles [15]
Category: Black Panther (2018)
Genre: Again, Erik is a dad, I am a sucker for naming my titles after my favorite songs, I love domestic T'Cherik so deal with it, I think this is cute as shiz, M/M, T'Challa is just the person that he is, also i love you, even though I already said it, jk I love you guys, so read it and weep, thank you for reading
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-13 22:19:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15374592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deliriouslyshipping/pseuds/deliriouslyshipping
Summary: In the last moments of his life, Erik distinctly remembers his two girls waiting for him at home.





	A Piece of Me (I Wish I Didn't Need)

**Author's Note:**

> Do enjoy :) I apologize for my mistakes, it is currently 5:22 in the morning when I am posting this.

In the last moments of his life, Erik distinctly remembers his two girls waiting for him at home. Was his hatred so much that he forgot that he had a more important job of being a father? To be there? Baba died in his betrayal to Wakanda, but should he do the same? 

T’Challa looks at him somberly, even offering to heal him. He nearly killed him by throwing him from the waterfalls, almost sent weapons out to the War Dogs across the world, and he offers to save his life? N’Jadaka would love to go back to his girls, Akira and Ashanti, but it is too late for him to redeem himself. Perhaps T’Challa will find them, give them a life that he only dreamed of. 

“Bury me in the ocean with my ancestors..” N’Jadaka considers telling his cousin about his daughters, considers begging him to do what his father had failed to. He doesn’t. 

When the blade exits his body, he is overwhelmingly saddened by his decision. 

_I am sorry, Akira, Ashanti. I hope that one day you can forgive me._

* * *

When Erik opens his eyes, he can’t find himself to be surprised that the Wakandan technology managed to pull him from the pits of death and back into life. His cousin is right there, waiting. N’Jadaka sits up on the bed, looking down to his new scar. 

“We had managed to save your life. I know it was against your wishes, but-” Erik rises, despite the shit implanted in his body, and stalks a tight grip around the throat of his supposed enemy.

“I should be pissed. I should kill you,” Erik informs, “but I’m not.” He lets go, shocked that T’Challa even let him restrict his air. 

“I’m leaving as soon as I can. I have.. important things to return to.” 

“You know you can’t do that. You must face the Council for your sentence.” Yeah, he knows, but they don’t mean shit compared to his flesh and blood waiting for him at their aunt’s house. Erik begins to force his way out of the door, but it can’t be that easy. T’Challa grabs his arm, the enhanced strength pulling him back. 

“Touch me again and I’ll fucking rip your arm off.”

“If you leave, then I’ll have to kill you, N’Jadaka. I am trying to save you!” Erik doesn’t know what it is about T’Challa that leaves him sensitive enough to admit truths, even if he is yelling, but it happens. 

“I’m going back to my kids, I don’t give a fuck!” T’Challa blinks at him, obviously shocked by the confession. He groans and walks back to the bed, knowing this will only cause more interaction between the two of them. 

“Kids?”

“Two, Akira and Ashanti.” Erik scowls at the sparkle of interest in his cousin’s eyes. 

“I just never thought that-”

“I’d fuck around when I’m focused on killing your ass? Yeah, me neither, but it happened.” His cousin bristles and it is a small victory. Nonetheless, the gears are moving and Erik knows T’Challa is too compassionate for his own good. He’s going to make a foolish decision and get himself killed. 

“I can find them and bring them back for you.” Ever the diplomat.

“No, I have to go.” 

“You can’t-”

“I’m either walking out or they’re coming back here with me. You choose, kitten.” T’Challa couldn’t kill him the first time, there is no way that he can finish it. There is a pause between them, but Erik is simply waiting for the white flag to be raised. There is only one option T’Challa will take. 

“Bast help me,” T’Challa sighs, shaking his head as he walks out of the room. He looks back once and N’Jadaka takes it as a sign to follow. 

* * *

“So how did you do it, kitten?” T’Challa looks up from the controls of the airship. 

“I told Shuri to cover for me for a couple of hours. Do not call me kitten.” 

“Why? Does the kitty like it?” Erik laughs at the reaction he gets, which consists of grumbling and the rolling of eyes. The camouflage activates as they land on top of the apartments. He can remember the first time he saw one of these.. not a pleasant memory. 

They walk silently to the door, not bothering to make conversation. Erik knocks on the door and it opens within seconds. 

“Erik? Erik!” The woman greets him, enveloping him into a hug. The scent of home clings to him. 

“Hey Auntie.” She releases him, diverting her eyes to T’Challa, who looks about as awkward as can be. 

“Who is this?”

“T’Challa, this is Auntie, Auntie, T’Challa.” Erik never considered in his life that T’Challa would be meeting anyone in relation to him, except for a blade. 

“Call me Dayah. Where are my manners, come in! Want me to wake them?”

“Yeah, just tell them to come in the living room.” Auntie nods and goes into a room. His hands are shaking and T’Challa notices, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

“If I am executed, you better give them the world,” N’Jadaka whispers harshly, unwilling to let his emotions to get the best of him. 

“Daddy!” He drops onto his knee as the girls run, hugging tightly as he kisses both of their foreheads. T’Challa watches soberly. 

“How are my favorite girls?”

“I punched a boy in the face!” Erik laughs. “Oh did you?” 

T’Challa moves towards the door to give them space for their reunion. Dayah joins him, smiling. 

“I found Erik when his father died. He wouldn’t talk to anyone, in and out of the foster system until I took him in. That boy carried that anger with him his whole life, but never have I seen him happy until he got his girls. He left the military and started working for this one guy so that he could be home more.” T’Challa bites his tongue, but accepts her words. He has never seen N’Jadaka smile, for real, until this moment. 

“He’s going back to his real home, isn’t he?” 

“Erik wanted to bring his daughters with him,” T’Challa says as Erik whispers in their ears. The girls giggle as they go back to their room. Erik stands. 

“Don’t even warn me when you’re taking my grandbabies? I should beat your goddamn ass.” Erik flinches when she smacks him on the back of his head, T’Challa completely in shock, mouth and eyes wide at the change in pace. 

“I’m sorry! Damn, you still hurt.” 

“You know better. They better visit.” Erik and T’Challa share a look. 

“I promise,” Erik says earnestly, maintaining the eye contact to make a statement. 

“And you too.” Dayah points a long finger at the center of his chest, right where his scar should be. 

“We’ll see.”

“There ain’t no we’ll see about nothing, boy!” Erik raises his hands defensively as he apologizes. The girls come in holding small suitcases, decorated in stickers, and a bear in each of their hands. 

“Come give grandma a kiss before you go.” For the sake of goodbyes, T’Challa leaves the room. He understands how precious this is, for all of them, and silently wishes this could have been N’Jadaka. This could’ve been different.

* * *

“Thank you,” Erik says on the way back. T’Challa snuck a war criminal out of the country temporarily to bring his children back. Just the fact that he had managed to get N’Jadaka out of the building is enough to have him removed. 

Akira and Ashanti are resting on either side of him, huddled comfortable under the bulk of Erik. He could never have expected that his cousin was a father, not when he carried the plan to bring Wakanda down, and he certainly never thought the man carried a weak spot. Family is a weak spot that both of them happen to share. 

“I found this girl at a party after one of my tours. We dated for a while until she saw I wasn’t the type for falling in love and all of that shit. She was already pregnant by then. The bitch didn’t want a reminder of me, so she gave them up as soon as they came out.” The rest of the story is easy. Erik started working for Klaue and the rest follows to this exact moment. 

“I am sorry, N’Jadaka.” T’Challa spares a glance in his direction. 

“Don’t think this changes anything. I’ll kill you.” 

The words, though harsh and without hesitation, are a lie. This changes everything. 

* * *

T’Challa helps by carrying Akira to one of the extra rooms in the Royal hall, dropping her gingerly onto the beds. 

“I have to put you inside of the room until morning,” T’Challa whispers, not missing the look his cousin gave him, “until morning, then I’ll put a tracker on you. It is the only way.” Erik has no choice to allow it, walking back into the room he woke up in. The door closes and seals behind him. 

“I will come first thing in the morning,” promises T’Challa. Erik sneers. 

“You better.”

“I told you I would help you. I did not just mean for a night or just for them.” The King leaves the room, the lights automatically turning off behind him. N’Jadaka returns to his bed without care, staring up at the ceiling in thought - yeah, today  _just_ happened. 

* * *

The first to find out is Shuri, of course. T’Challa can never manage to hide anything for long from her, but he brought her into this the moment he asked her to cover for them as they went across the ocean to get two children. 

“You have the heart of an elephant, brother,” Shuri says before she bends down, introducing herself to the two girls whose eyes are bright in interest. 

As promised, Erik is released with a tracker - highly against the council’s wishes, but T’Challa overruled everything, claiming that he deserved more than Wakanda had ever given him. Erik would attend sessions to help with his obvious psychological issues and work towards earning his place in Wakanda, like it should have always been. 

It was shaky, starting off. The only people who would ever bother to get close enough to N’Jadaka was T’Challa, which shocked literally everyone. Many glared at him, for it was too early to accept that Erik kind of fucked up. It’s not like Erik wants their acceptance, anyway, he lived his whole life without being accepted. Erik figured that having his girls with him would make his relationship to Wakanda easier; Akira and Ashanti could live the life he never could here, even if he was sentenced off to another place to die (or gets executed or whatever else could’ve happened). No, it made it so much worse. 

Not only did his kids get attached to the glorious motherland, so did he in his own way. He had to do a lot of ass kissing to get in good graces (which he does  **not** kiss ass) and that only made a dent in the public. Wakanda does not easily forgive the man who caused a civil war, killed a warrior, and the restoration period that they are currently in. Erik kept his head high and his arms tight around his girls. He earned the respect after saving a boy messing with the rhinos foolishly, the domino effect of adopting his Wakandan title falling into place. 

Ramonda took the longest, as expected. She always kept her head up, talked politely, but how could you forgive the guy who tried to kill your own son in front of you? N’Jadaka could not really blame her. The moment she did, though, Erik knew that there was no way that he could go back to planning to harm any of them. 

He returned from a reconnaissance mission that T’Challa had sent him on, Queen Mother waiting. She embraced him, smiling as she greeted him. Erik could do nothing but hug her back as she whispered in his ear.

“Welcome home, Prince N’Jadaka.” 

And Erik never thought of it as home. Just thought of it as the place he always came back to, but when Akira and Ashanti runs to meet him, T’Challa following behind with a loving smile, Erik realized wholeheartedly: Yeah, this is kind of like home. 

* * *

N’Jadaka walks in to the office, not bothering to knock. T’Challa glances up, pausing momentarily before continuing to read. He is probably there to agitate, as he usually does. 

“How may I help you, N’Jadaka?” 

“Wanna eat lunch with us?” Erik rubs at the nape of his neck. “They wanted you to go and Shuri is busy.” T’Challa logs off of his device and stands. He brushes off the wrinkles from his robes.

“Of course.” The doors fly open and they attach themselves to the King, dressed in similar clothing. 

“Please, please,  _please!_ I’ll stop sneaking into the lab if you come.” 

“So it was you, Akira!” T’Challa teases, running his hands through her bouncing curls. Ashanti giggles behind his pant leg. 

“Hey, daddy is here too! Can’t believe you stole my fuc-flipping kids.” Erik turns and begins walking off without them.

“Language, Daddy,” Ashanti convicts, running after him to grab his hand. Erik puts Ashanti on his shoulders, bouncing ahead of them. Akira stays with T’Challa, reaching for his hand. 

They hike to a waterfall in a part of the forests. N’Jadaka and Erik sit on a thick woven blanket, keeping an eye on the children. 

“You stole my fucking kids,” Erik reminds him, biting into his sandwich. “I should kill you.” It holds no heat anymore. T’Challa’s face splits into a smile.

“I did no such thing.” 

“To be honest, Ashanti acts more like you. She never leaves Shuri’s side. I swear to God, your sister made her a Black Panther suit and just won’t tell me.” Ashanti breaks into a laugh as she tosses water into the air, ducking as if it would shield her from the liquid. T’Challa tries to ignore the change in feeling in the middle of his chest. 

“Akira is exactly like you. She said she broke into the lab! How did he manage to do that?”  N’Jadaka shrugs. 

“Akira likes you - Be careful climbing that tree!” 

“I like them both,” T’Challa admits with a nod, dropping a grape into his mouth. Their hands touch as they both reach for the grapes, eyes meeting after. Respectfully, T’Challa relents with a small apology. 

“So I have decided to postpone me killing you.” Erik pops the grape into his mouth. 

“I see. Have an expected time to return to your redemption?” T’Challa is leaning forward, joking

“Who knows? It turns out that my favorite people in the world seem to be in love with my enemy, so it’s making it hard on me.” 

“That must be hard,” he teases and it is noticed how close they are now. This feels natural, like it should be, could be. 

“Yeah,” Erik breathes out, “it is.” Their eyes stay locked onto each other. T’Challa pushes the thought away that, yes, he wants to kiss N’Jadaka. 

“They’re going to kiss! Look!”

“Shhhh Akira.” They jolt back as if lightning struck between them. T’Challa fakes a cough, looking away embarrassingly as N’Jadaka stands. 

“Alright, both of you get your tails down from there - Stop climbing up, damn it!” 

T’Challa considers helping, but it is honestly too funny to pass up on watching Erik climb up a tree to yell at them to get down. 

* * *

Ashanti is wrapped around T’Challa on their way back, breathing slowly. Akira, with her lively spirit, is racing Erik down the halls to their room. Ashanti yawns and adjusts her head on his shoulder. T’Challa grips her a little tighter out of instinct, walking into the door that Erik keeps open. He drops her softly on the bed and Akira climbs in after. 

“Kisses” Erik bends down, plants various sloppy kisses around her face. He pulls away and she looks to T’Challa. 

“Kisses.” T’Challa spares a look to N’Jadaka, who looks just as surprised as he is. T’Challa gives one at the middle of her forehead, her small hand in his. 

“Go to sleep, now.” Akira nods and falls back down on the bed, clutching her small bear. Erik kisses Ashanti’s temple, following T’Challa out. They walk a few doors down to Erik’s room. 

“I-” T’Challa doesn’t have time to speak before Erik is pulling him in the room, slotting their lips together as he closes the door. 

“God, I hate you.” N’Jadaka whispers against his lips, biting hard at the bottom lip.

“I think hate is the wrong word.” The King gasps and Erik steers him towards the bed. As if it was already decided, T’Challa lets Erik hover as they connect their lips again. 

“You’re making my girls like you and now you got me liking you. Ain’t right.” Erik opens the robes and makes haste to bite at the juncture of his neck, lapping over his mark with his tongue.

“I’m sorry.” T’Challa clenches and unclenches his fist, arching his body towards N’Jadaka, who wraps a hand around his throat. 

“Shut up,” Erik growls. T’Challa, if things had been any differently than it is now, would have been scared with Erik’s hand around his neck, squeezing. Instead, he allows Erik to tug him up for another kiss, threading his fingers through dreads as the other man swallows his moans. Rationality nags, overwhelming the feeling and settling for thinking.

“N’Jadaka,” T’Challa pushes him hard enough to get him off, catching his breath, “are you sure?” 

Erik sits himself on the bed, reaching towards the necklace around his neck. T’Challa remembers putting it on him, remembers the absolute dread he felt for nearly killing his cousin. Who knew that they could get here?

“When I about died, the last thing I could think of was how sorry I was to intentionally leave the only two people I loved at the moment. I figured they deserved better than knowing their father was a piece of shit war criminal who’ll die just like their grandfather.”

“You’re not worthless, N’Jadaka.”

“I know that now, but tried telling that to the boy who was abandoned by the only people could’ve helped him. Could’ve brought him home,” Erik’s face twists into anger, but it disappears faster than it appears, “but you saved my life, you brought my two lights when you didn’t have to. You could’ve let me die or killed me when I would’ve escaped, but you didn’t.” 

T’Challa grabs his hand, fingers lacing together. Erik twitches a smile. 

“When everyone wanted me dead, you kept me alive, believed I deserved more than what I was given. So yeah, I’m pretty fucking sure. Also, I’m pretty sure that Akira would highly appreciate if I admit that I liked you.” T’Challa laughs, eyes crinkling because this whole situation is insanity. 

“Okay.”

“Just okay? I thought I was shit at feelings, but-” T’Challa grabs the necklace and tugs him forward, shutting him up in his own way. 

“You are really annoying sometimes.” T’Challa rolls his eyes as Erik winks. 

“That’s all a part of my charm, baby.”

* * *

“Baba, look at me! I’m in the Dora Milaje.” Akira twirls the stick around her finger, snapping it downwards. Ashanti picks up a stick and the two pretend to fight. N’Jadaka rests in between the legs of T’Challa, who braids his hair contently.

“I once kicked all of their-” T’Challa pulls at Erik’s hair a bit too harshly, but the message gets across. 

“I’ll get you for that,” Erik promises, eyes glaring. The King leans down, kissing his partner softly. 

“I have beat you once, I’ll beat you again.” Ashanti walks towards them before Erik can answer. 

“Baba, can I put this in your hair?” T’Challa bows his head and the flower snugs into his curls. “Thank you.”

“You look like a pretty princess,” Erik says as T’Challa starts braiding again, “my pretty princess.”

“I am a King, not a princess.”

“You don’t sound like one when I-” T’Challa tugs again, shaking his head as Erik curses under him. 

“You and your mouth.”

“My mouth does amazing things, you would know, kitten.” 

“Foul language.” Erik grins, his capped teeth reflecting the sunlight above them. T’Challa finishes braiding, placing a kiss at his lover’s temple. N’Jadaka is too focuses on him to notice Ashanti and Akira running towards him with their sticks.

“WAKANDA FOREVER!” They jump on top of N’Jadaka, hitting him with their sticks. 

“They would make great warriors.” Ramonda approaches them. T’Challa greets with a salute, turning around to watch as Erik chases his kids. Their kids. 

“Are you sure about this?” She asks. The idea of marriage was not something that Erik and him had discussed yet, but there is no one else. It is simply a matter of time, though he had already shared his intentions with his sister and his mother. 

“I am sure,” T’Challa confirms. Ramonda smiles, reaching for his hand. 

“You make a great King and father. I am so proud.” She squeezes his hand for added effort and he nods his head, a smile stretching his cheeks. Erik comes on his side, greeting Queen Mother. 

“Take care of my son, N’Jadaka.”

“I plan to.” If someone were to tell him years ago that he would save his troubled cousin and fall in love with him and his two daughters, T’Challa would have laughed in their face. Now it just connected, like puzzle pieces. 

Akira hugs at his leg as Ramonda leaves them, Ashanti tackling him to the ground. Erik laughs, teasing that it is now his turn. 

“Ndiyakuthanda, amantombazana.” He doesn’t fully expect them to know, they are just beginning to catch onto the language, but the two of them smile and kiss his cheek. 

“I love you too, Baba.” T’Challa looks up to Erik, who shrugs beside of them. 

“I may have taught them a couple of things.” He has never felt so happy in the entirety of his life. N’Jadaka sits on the floor next to him. 

“I love you.” 

“Are you sure?” Erik teases, their noses touching. T’Challa laughs underneath him.

“They’re kissing!” 

“Not yet,” and they kiss, despite Akira gagging beside of them and running off. There is always a different place he has to be, a new situation that requires his attention, but he doesn’t care if he works to return to this. 

Somehow all of the pieces seem to fit.


End file.
